December numbers:
- Personal:
- Gross monthly W2 pay: $5,375 (no change)
- Net monthly W2 pay: $3,470 (no change)
- Total credit card debt: $34,896 (+$1,184)
- Total other non-mortgage debt: $1,356 (-$104)
- Total mortgage debt: $147,586 (-$853)
- Cash/cash equivalents: $10,693 (+$781)
- Total retirement savings: $178,047 (+$4,236)
- Non-Equity Net worth: $4,902 (+$4,789)
- Total Net Worth: $285,300
Another challenging month (like most of 2020). Thankfully this year is almost over and there are some signs of hope on the horizon for 2021. Credit card debt went up, primarily due to Christmas spending and ongoing food orders for my mother. I’m considering splitting out 0% credit card debt and credit card spending – let me know whether you think this would be a helpful data point in the comments.
Collectibles sales have not been happening for the last few weeks due to laziness and a reorganization I’m doing in my house. Coincidentally that has coincided with stresses on the USPS so it just happened to be good timing for me to stop trying to ship stuff. I will be picking this back up after the first of the year (and the reorganization will help in that) so should, I hope, see debt numbers start to erode pretty precipitously at that time. May also put those profits in cash and hold it until 0% balances expire, but I’m looking forward to the debt being gone so may not.
Mortgage balance is consistently going down by ~$850/mo across the portfolio, continuing to show that the best friend of a real estate investor is time. Cash equivalents and retirement balances went up again due to strong market action so I’m finishing the year with a positive net worth, which is a surprise all things considered.
Still to come the remainder of my series on emergency funds. I’ll also plan a yearly update after my January update. Stay tuned!
